The Puzzle Prince
by emu FTW
Summary: Alex Ichi has always been more interested in puzzles than games. So much so he ended up with the title "The Puzzle Prince" in his last school. But when forced to move to Domino High, he meets Yugi and co who help him in more ways than one.
1. Chapter 1Home Sweet Home

Hello everyone! This is my first ever fan fiction so please feel free to Review. And just so its sortof clear, this is set after Duelist Kingdom, give or take a few weeks.

Disclaimer: I do not own anything in Yu-Gi-Oh! or the Rubix cube. If I did, Ryo would get way more screen time! The only thing that belongs to me in this story are the characters of Alex and Sally.

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Chapter 1- Home Sweet Home

Alex dumped his bag on top of the moving box and fell onto what he thought was a sofa. Instead of collapsing on the sofa however, it was the floor that greeted with its hard, cold wooden panes that slid across the room. Alex groaned. Part of him was ready to shout and curse every swear word that was in the book; however t this right minute, even the floor had become more comfy. He lay there, forcing himself to enjoy what little comfort the floor had to offer.

The plan trip from Texas to Domino had been way to long for his liking. If it wasn't for the fact he had prepared six Rubix Cubes, 4 Sudoku books and a little kids cross word book for the journey he may have actually killed the fat, sweat business man who he had been forced to sit next to for the majority for the trip due to his consistent snoring.

Alex rolled onto his back and opened his eyes slightly. So far, from what he had seen from his new "home", was that the place in a flat complex, it had wooded floors and that the ceiling was white. Forcing himself up, he took a look around his apartment. From the floor, it had a hallway and one large room that was a kitchen and a living room combined into one. He could see a door in the right side of the hall way as well as light coning from the end of it. He groaned and he forced himself to stand and wander around his apartment. So far from what he had seen, all of it had appeared rather normal and boring, which didn't surprise him. In the past, he had been a very easy person to excite but as years grew on, life had become slowly and surely more and more boring to him.

Hands slouched in his pocket; he walked down the hallway to see what other rooms awaited in the house. By the time quarter past three came round, Alex had found that his apartment had not been expanded to also include one big main bedroom and an un-suit attached to it, one spare room, a storage cabaret and a room with nothing but a wall of shelves in it. At the end of the hallway was a largish window that showed the back of the apartment complex he was living in. The ledge of the window wasn't the biggest but was big another to sit on and watch the world go by, which was exactly what Alex did once he'd finally finish all the putting away everything that was in the store boxes.

Sitting on the ledge, he closed his eyes and listened to the world around him. In the distance he could hear cars moving about in the centre of the city. A single ringing was left in his ears from the noise that the aeroplane and the gentle sound of his own breathing was all he could hear in his own apartment. Then a new sound caught his ears. Laughter. Alex reopened his eyes and looked out the window. The view from the window showed a small shop that looked like it had a house init. Outside a group of friends stood outside it talking. Taking his time, Alex took in each of their details.

Over all there were five of them. One girl, four boys. The girl seemed skinny and had a short brown bob for a haircut. Though you properly couldn't tell it by first glance, she was kind of pretty, but even from a five story apartment complex you could see she had confidence. Next was a blond boy, who wore a carefree, slightly cocky smile. Alex found himself smirking at this guy, though he wasn't sure why. Probably because he looked like, from the way he was standing, that he was at the current butt of the joke and was jumping up and down like a monkey because of it. _Like that's helping the situation._

The guy next to him seemed normal enough, expect for his hair that looked like it was at a single brown point. He was currently patting the blond on the back. _Properly one of his closer friends_ Alex thought. His eyes then wandered to another male of the group. When he had noticed the guy, he had seemed to be fitting in with them. This time though something seemed to be off with him. He seemed not to be standing as near as to the group. _His smile seemed natural enough, but his eyes seem…sad._ Running his hand through his hair, he thought _I guess there always is one person in a group of friends who doesn't fit in_.

His eyes finally went to the smallest member of the group, and by small he meant small. The kid seemed, in height anyway, to twelve years old and was wearing a high school uniform like the others. _Properly his brothers and he tried to sneak into the school. _He shrugged and went back to inspecting him. The only thing that really stood out to him beside the kid's height and hair (to which even he had to admit was quite impressive, not only with the three colours that were in it but also the fact he was able to make it stay up like that) was the gold pyramid that hung around the kid's neck. He found himself staring at that, not inspecting it like he had done with everyone else. Something about the way the sun hit it seemed to fascinate him about it, but not in a way to excite him, more of curiosity. A chill went down his back, as if someone was watching him. Shaking his head, he found himself staring at the puzzle more, as if it was holding his stare back at him. In the end Alex broke the staring contest with the puzzle and got up to leave the kids to do whatever they chatting about.

That night, Alex lay in his bed, arms behind his back looking at the ceiling. He had been attempting to get to sleep but the act had not come to him easily and instead he found himself staring at the ceiling. He shut his eyes, only to have the image of the pyramid to come back to him yet again. Squinting, he opened his eyes once again to the "oh so welcoming" ceiling.

_Something's not right about that pyramid_. He placed his hand to his head and rubbed it. The image kept popping back up to his head, as if it was important somehow. _Shame the reason why it's not right seems to hate me._ Alex turned in his bed to face his whole room. Sleeping sideways often helped him more, though he wasn't sure how or why it did. He found his eyes wandering to his uniform which he had promised Sally he would hang up.

His mind went blank. _Sally_ he thought. Ale shut his eyes again. Initially the puzzle greeted him but very quickly it was replaced with the memory of Sally sitting on the fence in her yellow dress and her red hair in plats laughing at something Alex had done. He re – opened his eyes and sat up. Out of old habit, he ran his hand though his short hair, messing it slightly as more memories of Sally flashed back to him.

"Man I miss that girl," he said aloud.


	2. Chapter 2  Welcome to Highschool!

Hello again! Chapter two is now up! sorry that its not long, though i got a bad feeling that most of these chapters ( except next chapter, which is already over three pages o.o) will be this kind of length.

Also, before i do the disclaimer, i would like to give a very super special awesome Thank you to xxpinkblinkxx for being the first reviewer! if there were cookies to be given out, you would get five!

Disclaimer: I do not own anything in Yu-Gi-Oh! or the Rubix cube. If I did, Marik (good) would have never sounded like a whiny kid in the dub! The only thing that belongs to me in this story are the characters of Alex and Sally.

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Chapter 2 – Welcome to high school!

Crash!

The alarm only had to beep twice for it to be chucked across the room. Now it lay on the floor in pieces. Groaning Alex sat up in his bed, with a look on his face that could kill a person with in three seconds. Growling he staggered out of his bed and walked over to the en-suit bathroom to get showered and dressed.

Looking in the mirror at himself, he took in his new uniform for this school. It had been one of those traditional blue high collared jacked with trousers to mach it. Under shirts could vary but the school rules had said jackets should be done up at all time except in summer, when the uniform changes.

Alex smirked to himself as he left his jacket open and undid the first two buttons of his shirt. _If they dare think they're going to get me to follow their stupid rules when I'm there for only six months they got another thing coming. _He thought as he left his bedroom. In the kitchen area he clicked the radio and listened to the songs that were playing. Not that he was really listening; he just needed something to try to wake him up. Stretching, he picked up an apple and slung his bag over his shoulder as he left the apartment.

The walk up to school was about a fifteen minute walk, though he had left at half past because of paperwork he needed to finish off. Groaning, he walked into the principles secretary's office. In front of him he saw a man in a tracksuit with a curve crew cut. _Jesus, is everyone in this town got some sort of weird hair cut? _He thought as he remembered the kid with the multicoloured spiky that he had spied on the afternoon before.

"Hey you, what makes you think you can wander in here without permission ya little brat"

Alex pulled a face and he clenched his fists. The temptation to punch this guy in the face was _way_too tempting to resist. Instead of punching the teacher however, he crossed his arms and said whilst smirking, "Ghee I don't know, maybe the fact that not only am I here early to finish off some paperwork for my transfer here but also the fact that my parents are in charge of Ichi Ltd, one of the leading banks and investors in New York City."

The teacher looked at him for a moment, taken back by the back chat Alex had given him. The man ran up to Alex and picked him up by the collar. He was about to shout at him right in the face when a voice from behind said, "Mr Karita, the principal will see you now."

Grouching, Mr Karita placed Alex down and grumbled something "I'm watching you" and "get my revenge" as he left the small room. Alex pulled his jacket and adjusted himself back to his own, causal liking. _That'll teach you to mess with Alex… no Alexander Ichi_ thought to himself. It was a shallow thing to do, when he always found a wave confidence came whenever he referred to himself as Alexander. _Like the great king_ he though. He slid his hands into his pockets and looked at the secretary.

" 'cuses me miss," he started, in his polite voice. "I'm here to finish some of my paper work. I just transferred here." The lady looked at Alex and smiled.

"Yes, please give me one second and I'll give you your paperwork." The lady said. She went behind the desk and fiddled with some paper work. Alex's eyes glanced over to one of the three waiting seats in the corner. He contemplated for a moment on whether or not he should sit down before deciding not to. He didn't want to make himself comfy as he wanted to get this paper work in and done before classes actually started.

"I'm sorry, may I ask for your name? We have two students entering the school this semester, both at different places with their paper work."

Alex pulled a fake smile and said "My name is Alex, though I think I'm on the register as Alexander Ichi?"

The secretary scurried through the paper work and nodded. "Here you go. You're down as Alex though on the register however, since you're new we can change it if you want." She said with a wink on the end. Alex shook his head and sighed. "In that case Hun can you please sign here, here and here then you're all set!"

The woman passed him the sheets of paper and a pen for him to start signing the sheets. Alex crouched down to the desk and signed him name in his neat signature he had been forced to make at a young age. Half way through his name of the second signature the woman asked, "You said your surname was Ichi right?"

_Here we go again._Alex looked up and her and nodded. He knew where this was going. With adults it always ended up down the same route of him being the child of the prestigious Ichi family, owners of Ichi Ltd. With people his own age it was "the Puzzle Prince", which he didn't father anymore. The woman smiled to herself and said "Wow, that's makes three big companies kids going here now! Domino high must be getting popular!"

Alex blinked at what she had said. _Three different big companies' kids attending Domino? That's crazy!_ He thought.

"Um, I don't wish to intrude but…" he started however it was the secretary that finished him off.

"…but you want to know who the other two kids are?" Alex nodded which made her laugh. "No problem Hun. Just let my look up there student profiles on the schools database." The secretary clicked fort a minute, which gave him another time to have one final read through the whole "school rules" and "education code of conduct" to make sure there wasn't anything stupid in there that meant he was selling his life away. Alex was always cautious when it came to these things after what happened this last time. An image of Sally flashed in his head of her laughing, but he quickly blocked it out.

He was just removing his pen from the piece of paper when the secretary finally spoke up again. "Let's see, the first student is Ryuji Otogi. He's just moved here and the son of the new games shop in town called "Black Clown". However he's not set to be in school for another couple of weeks because of final touches of both his family shop and his own new dice game. He'll be in class 2C. Then…" the secretary scrolled down the screen more. "There's Seto Kaiba, son of the owner of Kaiba Corporation. He's in class 2A, which is the same class as you will be in."

Alex looked at the lady and took in what she had just said. If what she had just said was true then both students were gamers of some sort, which probably meant they would fit in quite fine in a town like Domino; which just _loves_ gamers of any sort. _Shame the same can't be said for me_.

At that moment a new teacher walked through the office. He was in his mid fifties and had the sides of his hair starting to grey. The face was also wrinkling, as if to scream to anyone who's walking by "HEY LOOK! If you can't tell I'm an old man by the fact I'm stuck up and hate kids, check out my wrinkles from where I've been frowning all day for the last ten years!"

"Are you the new transfer student?" he asked abruptly. Shrugging, Alex replied "Guess so since the other guy not in for a few more weeks."

The teacher nodded. "I'm Mr Markizu, I'll be your homeroom teacher for the time you are here. Now if you please follow me, I need to introduce you to the class." The old man left the room. Alex sighed. He was stuck in a city that loved games, there were people who were already referring him to his parents company and his homeroom teacher was already boring him. He turned and thanked the secretary for all her help and walked at a quickened pace. Ready or not, he was about to face the new student body who he would be stuck with for the next six months, whether he liked it or not.

_Least I got my Rubix cube._

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_I am aweare that currently none of the main characters have appeared yet, but FEAR NOT! Next chapter everything (should) start to happen!_


	3. Chapter 3 New kid on the block

GOOD NEWS! this chapter actually stars Yi-Gi-Oh characters, meaning this might actually be going somewhere!

**IMPORTANT! **speech guide:

"speaking"

_thinking_

something spoken in Japanese

**Something spoken in eEnglish**

Disclaimer: I do not own anything in Yu-Gi-Oh! or the Rubix cube. If I did, Ryo would of be in both movies! The only thing that belongs to me in this story are the characters of Alex and Sally.

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Chapter 3 - New kid on the block

The racket from the class room could be heard from halfway down the corridor, though that could have also been a combination of the other classes that hadn't started yet. Mr Markizu led him to a door frame which had 2A written on a small sing above the door.

_Guess this is the place_

"Mr Ichi," the old man started "I'm not sure how they introduce new students in America but here when we enter the class room you will…"

"Be required to write my name on the chalk board, say 'nice to meet you' and something else pleasant about me?" Alex said. The teaching stared at him, saying nothing. _Thought so_Alex took over from where the teacher had been standing and walked into the class room. True to follow what he had just told the teacher, he walked to the board and started writing his name in Japanese. He could hear Mr Markizu follow in behind him saying about how they have a new student join the class. Alex turned round and let the whole class look at him.

It was at that moment three things hit him.

One. Most of the girls in the class were already drooling over him.

Two. All five kids who he had been watching the night before out of his new window were in this class. Including the one who looked like twelve and had the wired spiky hair and the strange pyramid

Three. Someone, in less than three seconds of being in the class room had said "Puzzle Prince"

"Well, ichi? Do having anything to add?"

Alex looked at the teacher and then back to the class. _Yes actually I do, whoever just said 'Puzzle Prince' is a dead man_ were the words he had considered saying but instead he just shook his head.

"In that case would you like to a seat behind Mr Mutou?" as if it had been perfectly rehearsed, "Mr Mutou" waved his hand up in the air along with saying 'over here'. Ignoring what was coming out of his mouth, Alex walked over to the boy taking in the fact the 'Mr Mutou' was the small 12 year old with funny hair. He _seems a bit young to be called 'Mr'._

As he took his seat behind 'Mr Mutou', the small boy turned round and said "It's nice to meet you Alex! I know the teacher called me Mr Mutou but feel free to just call Yugi, okay?" Alex looked at the kid with his usual frown on his face. He nodded as his answer and Yugi began to smile. "I hope we can be good friends!" Was his last comment before being forced to turn round and continue with his work.

Pulling out a pencil and paper, Alex attempted to get back to his work when he froze. Another cold chill, similar to the one that had happened the day before ran down his back. _There that feeling again _he thought. _That feeling of being watched._ His head jolted around the room to see if he could catch a glance at whoever was staring at him. Initially he had found no one looking, and then someone caught his eye. The boy who didn't quite fit into the group the day before had been eyeing him for a minute. However, when Alex caught him he had quickly stopped and mouthed a 'sorry' towards him before turning his head back to the work.

Alex looked round for another moment. The chill down his back was still there, but it wasn't as dominant, as if this time it had let him win. Alex clenched his fist. He didn't like this cold chill that he kept getting and if it didn't stop soon he was going to have to _make _it stop. Settling for the time being that the chill had calmed down a bit, he returned to his work, trying to make up for what time he had wasted.

_

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_

Who would of thought that a bell ringing would being so much relief to someone Alex thought as bell sounded out to mark the start of lunch. Alex stretched and backed up the two books he had been making notes in. He slid his chair across the floor, causing a load creaking noise to be made. Yugi turned round.

"How are you finding school then?" he asked smiling. Alex placed his hand through his hand in his hair again. _Damn, he's going to want a conversation out of me._

"It's alright I guess…" he said, his hand trailing down, into his bag. He moved his hand around in it as Yugi began to say something along the lines of 'first days are kinder scary' trying to feel the cord to his Mp3 player. Frustrated that he couldn't feel it, he actually opened his bag out full and looked in it. The contents, or the lack of, got him to swear aloud.

"DAMN IT!"

Yugi stopped in mid sentence as he chucked his bag to the floor and started growling at the window. _DAMN IT DAMN IT DAMN IT! HOW THE HELL DID I FORGET IT! I NEVER LEAVE HOME WITHOUT IT!_

"Um Ichi –kun?" Yugi asked hesitantly.

"WHAT!" Alex Snapped. He saw Yugi taken back by this and look like he was either going to run away scared or burst into tears. Alex growled a moment; his eyebrows seeming knotted together in a frown that probably told him that murder was quite possible in his current frame of mind. He watched Yugi stutter a moment before a new voice came up.

"Hey! New Guy!" Alex turned his head to the new guy. This time it was the blond lad who had been the butt of the joke yesterday talk, being followed by the girl, the other guy with wired hair and the slightly out of it guy who had been staring at him earlier. _I have to learn their names soon, this is getting stupid._

"I don't care where you're from or what your problem is; no one gets away with messing with my friend," Alex gawked for breath as the 'butt-of the joke' guy grabbed his jacket and pulled him close to his face. "You got that?" Alex found his fist clenched for the second time that day. This time though there was nothing that was going to actually stop him.

Then it struck again. The cold chill ran through him though, not just his spine, making his body freeze and unable to move. Alex tried to curse but his mouth was unable to move. Instead he found his eyes franticlly trying to find the source of the wave of coldness. Naturally, his eyes drifted to the outside of the group but he seemed to, rather feebly, be trying to get the 'butt-of-the-joke' guy to calm down.

"Wait a second Jounouchi, I'm sure he didn't mean anything!"

Alex's eyes stopped flicking around the room and instead landed on Yugi. He was standing in the middle of both boys and was currently trying to calm 'Jounouchi' down. Jounouchi turned to Yugi. He looked like he was about to continue when Yugi continued.

"Alex seemed stressed because he lost something as he had been searching through his bag just before you came back from the toilet." Yugi then looked up to Alex, "I'm right aren't I?" he said, with a hint of desperateness in it. Alex kept his eyes locked with Yugi for a moment then looked down. Something about the kid made him unable to keep lock with his eyes.

"I'm sorry" he muttered. Nobody moved for a second. Becoming stressed again, Alex snapped "I said I'm sorry Alright!" That time everyone heard and Jounouchi finally placed him down.

"See you guys? I told you he was a nice guy! Nothing to worry about" Yugi smiled at everyone and then back at Alex, who still averted his eyes from Yugi's. The cold chill from his body drained away slowly, leaving just a small tingle of a few hairs standing up on the back of his neck. Alex, finally satisfied with the chill, gave a flicking glance towards everyone. Jounouchi seemed still in a mood with him along they guy with the weird hair. Alex shifted and looked back in his bag, trying one more time for the Rubix cube. He sighed and plonked the bag back down.

"Hey Yugi, I don't think we've all been introduced to your new friend yet." said the girl.

Alex looked up as Yugi started to fluster. The girl smiled at Yugi's attempt to introduce people and instead took over from him. "It's nice to meet you Alex, I'm Anzu Mazaki." Alex looked at her. She had something about her that made her different from the rest of the girls in the class. Then it clicked and he smirked. _Confidence, I forget she had that._ Next one to introduce themselves was the guy with the wired hair.

"Names Hiroto Honda, and that's Kayatsu Jounouchi," he said, point the thumb over to the blond, who was now sulking. "Don't let him bother you, he acts tough but he's got a heart of gold really! Not that you would believe it in that knuckle head of his" with that comment being made, Honda put Jounouchi into a head lock and started giving him a nuggie. Jounochi seem to fight back, but only half heartedly and a smiled cropped onto his face. That moment, everyone in the grouped laughed. Except for Alex, who current smirk was the closest thing they will ever get to a laugh.

Then, Alex took a step back and observed the situation he had fallen into. Here he was, one of the world's most anti sociable people, was sitting in a group of people and if any stranger had walked past this very moment, they would of thought it was just a group of friends laughing with each other.

_And all in just over half a day._ He thought to himself.

Then, a soft click went off in his head. _Speaking of anti sociable…_ Alex's head turned to the boy who had been staring at him earlier.

"What about you?" he said to him. The boy stayed where he was for a second before registering that Alex had spoken to him. He pointed his finger to himself in a way that seemed to say 'who? Me?' Alex grunt. "Yeah you, you haven't introduced yourself yet. What's your name?"

At that moment the boy let a friendly smile. Not quite like Yugi's, his had been more innocent and child like. No, 'outsider-boy's' smile had been more soft and polite and in some way genuine._ Why would his smiles not be?_

"Me? My name is Ryo, Ryo Bakura, though everyone seems to call me Bakura" he said softly. Alex raised an eyebrow, taking 'Bakura' back a bit. "Is something wrong?" he asked. Alex stared at him, thing to pin point what he had just picked up on but in the end, he gave up and shook his head

"No not really. I thought I heard an accent in your voice but it was just me." His head was about to back to the main group when Ryo laughed out loud. Turning his head back to Ryo, Alex asked, "What's so funny?"

"Sorry, it just that's the fifth time today someone has mentioned me accent." Ryo explained. "You weren't imaging it; I actually grew up in England for most of my life so my Japanese isn't quite as good as everyone else's. Apparently I have a bit of an accent when I say certain words"

"**So we have a fellow Brit among us…**" Ryo blinked, as wave of surprise seemed to take form on his face.

"**I didn't realise you spoke English?**" He asked, causing Alex's friendly smirk to turn into a cocky one.

"**I don't, I speak American.**" Ryo continued to stare at him for a moment and then laughed. Alex gave a triumphant "humph" at his joke. He glanced back towards the group who seemed to be staring at him and Ryo and smiled.

"**I thought there was a twang in your voice. Which part of the US are you from?**" Ryo asked, calming himself down. Alex leaned further back into his chair, placing his arms behind his neck, turning back to Ryo.

"**Been pretty much everywhere, but my parents are in New York. Which part of England you come from?**"

"**Yorkshire, though I moved to London after…..**" Ryo stopped and looked down. His eyes saddened and the smile he had been wearing had now vanished.

"**You lost someone there didn't you,**" Ryo looked up, confused to what Alex had just asked. He looked at him for a second with a black look and then nodded. "**Sorry, I won't pry anymore**."

Alex watched Ryo fluster together an apology about not needing to be sorry. Alex just shook his head. He started to say something when Anzu came into the convocation.

"Looks like you two are getting along fine I see." Anzu said smiling. Ryo's smile returned this time even bigger than before.

"Anzu- Chan! We were just talking about where are accents are from."

It was at that moment she grabbed Ryo's hand. "Come on, we're all heading to the canteen for lunch."

A new smirk fell onto Alex's face as he caught a glace Ryo blushing slightly as Anzu grabbed his hand. He turned his back to the table. Poor guy has a crush on the girl. He thought to himself. An image of sally ran into his mind, causing him to place his fist onto his forehead.

"Alex? Alex!"

Alex looked up to see Anzu standing over him, with the rest of her friends, including Ryo, standing in the door way.

"We're all heading for lunch! You want to join us or are you going to sit there all day?"

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_Please review. Reviews are much loved and cookies are given to people who do!_

_-J. Hearts_


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